Now in the twelfth month, that [is], the month Adar, on the thirteenth
day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near
to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped
to have power over them, (though it was (a) turned to the contrary,
that the Jews had rul... [ Continue Reading ]
And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the
deputies, and officers of the king, (b) helped the Jews; because the
fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
(b) Honoured them and befriended them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus the Jews smote all their (c) enemies with the stroke of the
sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto
those that hated them.
(c) Who had conspired their death by the permission of the wicked
Haman.... [ Continue Reading ]
And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed (d) five hundred
men.
(d) Besides the three hundred that they slew the second day, (Esther
9:15).... [ Continue Reading ]
The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews,
slew they; but (e) on the spoil laid they not their hand.
(e) By which they declared that this was God's just judgment on the
enemies of his Church as they fought not for their own gain, but to
execute his vengeance.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews
which [are] in Shushan to do to morrow also according (f) unto this
day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
(f) This she requires not out of a desire for vengeance but with zeal
to see God's judgment's... [ Continue Reading ]
But the other Jews that [were] in the king's provinces gathered
themselves together, and stood for (g) their lives, and had rest from
their enemies, and slew of their (h) foes seventy and five thousand,
but they laid not their hands on the prey,
(g) Read (Esther 8:11).
(h) Meaning, that they laid... [ Continue Reading ]
On the (i) thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day
of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
(i) Meaning, in all places saving Shushan.... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns,
(k) made the fourteenth day of the month Adar [a day of] gladness and
feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
(k) As the Jews do even to this day, calling it in the Persian
language Purim, that is, the d... [ Continue Reading ]
And Mordecai wrote (l) these things, and sent letters unto all the
Jews that [were] in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, [both]
nigh and far,
(l) The Jews gather from this that Mordecai wrote this book, but it
seems that he wrote only these letters and decrees that follow.... [ Continue Reading ]
As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month
which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into
a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and
of (m) sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
(m) He sets before our eyes... [ Continue Reading ]
Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the
Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had (n) cast
Pur, that [is], the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
(n) Read (Esther 3:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
But when (o) [Esther] came before the king, he commanded by letters
that his wicked (p) device, which he devised against the Jews, should
return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on
the gallows.
(o) That is, Esther.
(p) These are the words of the kings commandment to dis... [ Continue Reading ]
The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon
all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail,
that they would keep these two (q) days according to their writing,
and according to their [appointed] time every year;
(q) Meaning, the fourteenth and fifteenth d... [ Continue Reading ]
And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and
seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, [with] (r) words of peace
and truth,
(r) Which were letters declaring to them quietness and assurance and
putting them out of doubt and fear.... [ Continue Reading ]
To confirm these days of Purim in their times [appointed], according
as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as
they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the
(s) fastings and their cry.
(s) That they would observe this feast with fasting and earnest... [ Continue Reading ]